It is known from the state of the art to configure a transmission for a motor vehicle as an automatic transmission. In addition to the purely hydraulically controlled automatic transmissions, ever greater use is made of electronic transmission controls for controlling the transmission. Such electronic transmission controls are, for example, disclosed in the technical journal entitled "Bosch Technische Berichte", Volume 7, (1983), Number 4, pages 160 to 166. In addition to automatic transmissions having several discrete ratio stages, automatic transmissions are also known wherein the ratio can be varied continuously. A method for operating a motor vehicle with a continuously adjustable transmission is, for example, disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 08/221,246, filed Mar. 31, 1994. Both versions of automatic transmissions have in common that, based on specific shift criteria, transmission ratios are changed automatically at least in dependence upon engine load and motor vehicle road speed.
A safety system for motor vehicles is disclosed in German patent publication 4,122,083 wherein the driver's attention is called to required downshifting before reaching the upper rpm limit when the motor vehicle is driving downhill and with a correspondingly high load. For this reason, the driver can achieve a deceleration of the motor vehicle with a timely downshift before the pregiven engine upper rpm limit is exceeded.
PCT patent publication WO 92/00212 discloses monitoring the temperature of the brakes in a motor vehicle. In this arrangement, a warning is issued when a limit temperature is reached and/or a drive slip control (ASR) is switched off and/or the engine torque is reduced by means of an engine intervention. The temperature is then determined by considering temperature increases in the braking case and in the ASR case and temperature reductions in the cooling phases.